Astrum
An End-to-End Approach to Security and Data Privacy

With organizations collecting and sharing more data than ever, surging cyber risk and new information privacy regulations sweeping across the globe, effective data security measures as well as effective information privacy strategies have become 2 sides of the same essential coin. In such a scenario, organizations that are proactive in taking a holistic approach to not only security but also privacy are likely to lead the competition by developing stronger relations with their customers and partners globally, improving compliance and reducing risk. But they need an effective partner who can help them through the security and data privacy compliance journey.

Enter Astrum, a Sydney-based data privacy and security consulting company that offers best-in-class cyber risk and privacy management services alongside regulatory compliance and ISO 27001 implementation services, helping enterprises prevent privacy breaches and safeguard their data. “Our company takes a holistic approach where it not only offers a range of data security threat assessments and mitigation services but also focuses on information privacy,” says Rod Organ, a Data Privacy and Security Expert and Principle at Astrum. “We ensure that our clients comply with GDPR, the upcoming California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and Australia’s Notifiable Data Breach (NDB) scheme, and attain true security. We feel that our experience with not only security but also privacy makes us unique.”

Having delivered security and privacy projects for many organizations, Organ has seen how companies struggle to deal with massive data. “Many organizations don’t have a well-defined strategy to collect and manage the right data, may not know how much or what data they have, and may be confused about where to start when it comes to complying with new data privacy regulations,” says Organ. Astrum helps companies reduce the friction in achieving compliance with regulations such as GDPR or NDB, managing cyber risk or aligning to standards such as ISO27001.

We help our clients move forward with confidence through implementation of effective data security and privacy strategies

Bringing to bear its decades of security experience, team Astrum follows a unique approach to client engagement. “We don’t focus on a particular technology,” says Organ. “Technology is important but it’s not the first decision that needs to be made. For us, what matters is: how and where our customers conduct their business? Who they partner with? what data they collect? and how do they use it?” Armed with this information, Astrum builds clients’ profile from the security and privacy risk perspectives. From then on Astrum takes a best fit for purpose approach to advise the right solutions to meet the specific client requirements.

One of its clients from the education industry, with a substantial footprint in Asia and looking to expand in Europe, wanted to improve their security and privacy compliance. They had completed a security assessment but were struggling to move forward in strengthening their security and complying with privacy. Astrum helped the client strengthen compliance by enabling them to set the right goals and select the right technology and empowering them with the right skill sets. Astrum helped the client to implement specific security measures including vulnerability scanning, and automated patch management, as well as conducting a privacy assessment and implementing a compliance program. Besides, the company also helped them with a security by design and privacy by design framework that not only supports the client managing security but also keeps them on track by guiding them through the recent developments in the privacy expanse. “With this framework, we embedded security and privacy into their organizational DNA,” highlights Organ. The result: the client noticed an immediate improvement in their adherence to data compliance regulations and overall security.

Organ and his team at Astrum will continue delivering end-to-end security and privacy consulting services in the APAC region. As organizations seek to grow and secure their activities, Astrum is preparing clients to take the security and privacy challenges with confidence and come out winning.